The series has from the beginning been instrumental in sustaining this field of study. JOURNAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORYMystical writing flourished between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries across Europe and in England, and had a wide influence on religion and spirituality. This volume examines a range of topics within the field. The five "Middle English Mystics" (Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, the author of The Cloud of Unknowing, Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe) receive renewed attention, with significant new insights generated by fresh theoretical approaches. In addition, there are studies of the relationships between continental and English mystical authors, introductions to some less well-known writers in the tradition (such as the Monk of Farne), and explorations around the fringes of the mystical canon, including Middle English translations of Boethius, Lollard spirituality, and the Syon brother Richard Whytford's writings for a sixteenth-century "mixed life" audience. E. A. Jones is Senior Lecturer in English Medieval Literature and Culture at the University of Exeter. Contributors: Christine Cooper-Rompato, Vincent Gillespie, C. Annette Grisé, Ian Johnson, Sarah Macmillan, Liz Herbert McAvoy, Nicole R. Rice, Maggie Ross, Steven Rozenski Jr, David Russell, Michael G. Sargent, Christiana Whitehead.

Introduction - E.A. JonesThe Colours of Contemplation: Less Light on Julian of Norwich - Vincent GillespieBehold Not the Cloud of Experience - Maggie RossWalter Hilton on the Gift of Interpretation of Scripture - Michael G. SargentNumeracy and Number in The Book of Margery Kempe - Christine Cooper-RompatoReligious Mystical Mothers: Margery Kempe and Caterina Benincasa - David RussellAuthority and Exemplarity in Henry Suso and Richard Rolle - Steven RozenskiMortifying the Mind: Asceticism, Mysticism and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 114 - Sarah MacmillanThe Meditaciones of the Monk of Farne - Christiania WhiteheadEnvisioning Reform: A Revelation Of Purgatory and Anchoritic Compassioun in the Later Middle Ages - Liz Herbert McAvoyWalton's Heavenly Boece and the Devout Translation of Transcendence: O Qui Perpetua Pietised - Ian JohnsonReformist Devotional Reading: The Pore Caitif in British Library, MS Harley 2322 - Nicole R. RiceRichard Whytford, The Golden Epistle, and the Mixed Life Audience - C. Annette Grise